Report 4692150 221686863 2008-06-25T17:00:10Z Verne Equinox 470788 /* See also */ Global Reporting Initiative {{examplefarm|article|date=June 2007}} {{Mergefrom|Bound Report|Talk:Bound Report|date=October 2007}} In writing, a '''report''' is a document characterized by information or other content reflective of inquiry or investigation, which is tailored to the context of a given situation and audience. The purpose of reports is usually to inform. However, reports may include persuasive elements, such as recommendations, suggestions, or other motivating conclusions that indicate possible future actions the report reader might take. Reports can be public or private, and often address questions posed by individuals in government, business, education, and science. Reports often take the structure of scientific investigation: [[IMRAD|Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion]] ([[IMRAD]]). They may sometimes follow a problem-solution structure based on the audience's questions or concerns. As for format, reports range from a simpler format with headings to indicate topics, to more complex formats including [[chart]]s, [[Table (information)|tables]], [[Figure (publishing)|figures]], [[picture]]s, [[Table of contents|tables of contents]], [[Abstract (summary)|abstracts]], [[Summary|summaries]], [[appendices]], [[footnote]]s, [[hyperlink]]s, and [[Reference#Scholarship|references]]. Types of reports include: :scientific reports, recommendation reports, [[white papers]], annual reports, [[auditor's report]]s, workplace reports, census reports, trip reports, progress reports, investigative reports, budget reports, policy reports, demographic reports, [[credit reports]], appraisal reports, inspection reports, military reports, etc. Many textbooks discuss reports in greater detail. See Gerso minority report, final report, majority report, environmental recourt reports, error and other reports from [[software system]]s, etc. n/Gerson's "Technical Writing: Process and Product," Lannon's "Technical Communication," and Blicq's "Technically—Write." == Enterprise reporting == With the dramatic expansion of information technology, and the desire for increased competitiveness in corporations, there has been an increase in the use of computing power to produce unified reports which join different views of the enterprise in one place. Termed '''Enterprise [[Report]]ing''', this process involves querying data sources with different [[logical model]]s to produce a human readable report. One example would be to query the [[Human Resources]] databases and the Capital Improvements databases to show how efficiently space is being used across an entire corporation. Enterprise [[Reporting]] is a fundamental part of the larger movement towards improved [[Business Intelligence]] and [[Knowledge Management]]. Often implementation involves Extract, Transform and Load (See [[Extract, transform, load|ETL]]) procedures into a reporting [[data warehouse]] and then use of one or more [[reporting tool]]s. While reports can be distributed in print form or via [[email]], they are typically accessed via a corporate [[intranet]]. ==References== {{refimprove|date=June 2007}} ==See also== *[[BIRT Project]], for open source Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools *[[Customer Relationship Management]] *[[Data quality]] *[[Enterprise Application Integration]] *[[Enterprise Resource Planning]] *[[Decision Support System]] *[[Global Reporting Initiative]] *[[Management Information Systems]] [[Category:User interface techniques]] [[Category:Documents]] [[Category:Technical communication]] [[Category: Business intelligence]] {{ling-stub}} [[de:Report]] [[de:Bericht]] [[eo:Raporto]] [[es:Informe]] [[fr:Reporting]] [[it:Report]] [[nl:Rapport]] [[ja:レポート]] [[no:Rapport (sjanger)]] [[nn:Rapport]] [[pt:Relatório]] [[ru:Отчёт]]